Tourist arrivals up 16.1% y/y in May 2018
Total international visitors to Georgia increased 9.0% y/y to 0.54mn visitors in May 2018, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A 16.1% y/y growth in tourist arrivals (0.36mn trips, 66.4% of total) drove the international visitors’ growth. Out of top countries by visitors, in May 2018, international visitors continued to increase from Russia (+24.5% y/y), Azerbaijan (+7.4% y/y), and Iran (+46.1% y/y), while visitors were down from Armenia (-8.9% y/y) and Turkey (-2.4% y/y).
Inflation was 2.5% y/y and flat m/m in May 2018
The annual CPI inflation was 2.5% in May 2018, according to GeoStat. Core inflation was 1.8% in May, unchanged from the previous month. Annual price changes were driven by price increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages (+1.8% y/y, +0.56ppts), transport (+3.5% y/y, +0.49ppts) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+6.4% y/y, +0.43ppts) categories. On a monthly basis, there was zero inflation in May 2018. Price decrease in food and non-alcoholic beverages (-0.7% m/m, -0.22ppts) and increase in transport (+1.0% m/m, +0.13ppts) categories were the major drivers of monthly price change dynamics.
